Trouser hanger



March 7, 1933. w CLAFLIN, JR 1,899,942

TROUSER HANGER Filed Jan. 12, 1952 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS I Patented Mar. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT orries WILLIAM IBQCLAFLIN, JR, or new CANAAN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR 'ro' CLAFL'IN I PRODUCTS INCORPORATEDfOFNEW" OANAAN, CONNECTICUT, A coRroRA'TIoN or CONNECTICUT 'rRoUsE'R "Application filed January 12, 1932. '-$eria1 -No". 586,150.

My invention'relates to garment hangers of trousers, although it is to be understood that it may also be used for the purpose of hanging other garments. One of theobjects of the inventionis to provide a garment hanger of the swinging type and of such oompactconstruction that it occupies a minimum of-space. A further object is to provide a garment hanger of this character. so'conrstructed that several individual garment holders'are provided, any one of which may -be'iuse'd without the necessity for handling any other garments carried by" the other'holders. I prefer-to arrange the several individual holders'in such a manner that they-can all-be swung into :close proximity to each other and locked in this position so that the several holders and the-garments carried thereby will occupy'very little'space. Afurther object of my invention isto provide a swinging garment hanger comprising-sev- "eraljholders all of which are mounted-so as toswing ina common horizontal plane. The garment hanger is intended to be mounted "permanently on a wall or-other supporting surface, and. where all "of the individual holders are mounted so'asto swing ingacommon horizontal plane, the garment hanger can :be mounted at an elevation that is convenient for theperson using the same and all olfflthe individual holders are readily availa e.

In general my invention comprises "a support whichmay be provided with a base portion adapted to be aflixed to any stationary surface such as a wall or 'a doorcasing or 'moldingw' The support is provided with several vertical rods preferably arranged parallel to each other in a Common plane extending outwardly at anangle from the base'portion of the support. Each of the rods may carry a garment holder and where the rods] are-ar ranged in vertical position parallel to each of myhang'er;

other, the several holders may be. swung about ina common horizontal plane. :Each

individual holder 1 is Preferably A formed of a single piece :of resilient material such as heavy wire or metal :rod stock. The .Wllfi holder is 'of such configuration asto provide at least onepair of cooperatingarms extend- I ing out away from thevertical rod "supporting the holder and the wire may be provided with loop portions-encircling the upper and lower ends of the supportingrod, thus pro- -viding a hinged connection between each holder. and the hangers support.

The garment hangersupport may be provided witha'projectionforming an abutment adapted to engage one of theindividua'l garvment holders to hold it in a predetermined angular position and the arrangement of the several parts may-be suchthat this projection serves to lock all of the swinging'holders" in close proximityto each other. I

- 'While I prefer to employheavy wireor'rod stock in making theswinging holders, it is to be understood that somefeatures of my invention may-be employed toadvantage' Where the swinging holders aremade out of other material. F or example, they may be made out'of flat, sheet material stam-ped and bent' into'a form toprovidea pair of arms for engaging-a garment. It is also'feasible to-em' ,ploy fiatfspringstock for this purposeand to -attachto=the spring member'fibrous material, plywood or the like, toform aclamp for engaging theqgarment. Where heavy wire or rod stock is employed in making the swinginghold'ersI prefer to make each holder out a of a single piece of wire,but it is to be-un'derstood that if desired a number of pieces can be employed, the several pieces being secured together. v

, The variousobj'ectsandadvantages ofmy invention will be more'apparent upon considering the following detailed description which is to be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment Fi 2 is a front elevation of thehanger illustrated in Fig. 1'; J Fig. 3-isa transverse section view taken of the upper end of one of the swinging garment holders; and

Fig. 5 is a transverse section view taken on line 55 of Fig. 2 showing the construction of the lower portion of one of the swinging garment holders.

The embodiment of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing comprises a support 1 having a base portion 2 adapted to be secured to any desired surface such as the wooden molding strip 3, by means of screws 4. The support 1 may be regarded as a wall bracket includingthe base portion 2 and a pair of supporting arms 5 and 6 extending away from the base portion at an acute angle thereto. The extremities of these arms 'may be supported by braces, one of which is shown at 7 in Fig. 1. The entire support or bracket may consist of a single metal stamping, or it may consist of several parts fastened together, as may be desired.

A plurality of rods 8 are mounted between the arms 5 and 6. For purposes of illustration I have shown four rods mounted between the arms 5 and 6 but it will be understood that any desired number of rods may be employed. A swinging garment holder is mounted on each ofthe rods 8, the several garment holders-being designated by the reference numeral 9.

In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, each swinging garment holder 9 consists of a single piece of heavy wireor rod stock bent to provide a pair of loops for engaging the upper and lower ends of the supporting rod 8 associated therewith and so as to provide a plurality of cooperating arms disposed in substantially parallel relation with each other and adapted to engage a garment. Each wire garment holder 9is provided with a loop 10 loosely engaging the upper end of the supporting rod 8 and the ends of the wire are welded or otherwise secured together, as shown at 11 in Fig. 5, to form a second loop 12 encircling the lower end of the rod 8. The portions of the wire between the loops 10 and 12 are bent so as to provide a pair of arms 13 and 14 extending outward away from the upper end of the supporting rod 8. The wire is then bent upward and rearwardly to form a second pair of arms 15 and 16. Therear extremities of these arms 15' and 16 arebent downwardly, as illustrated at 17 in Fig. 2, and terminate in the ends joined together at- 11- to form a porting rod 8. p

The curved outer extremities of each swinging garment holder are preferably '14, 15 and 16 adjacent to the loops 10 an 12 may be welded together as illustrated at prevented from spreading apart. loop 12 engaglng the lower end of the supspread apart somewhat to facilitate the insertion of one end ofa garment between the gripping arms of the holder. This is best illustrated in Fig. 1, which shows the extremities of the holders twisted to such an extent that the upper pair of arms 15 and 16 are separated from each other to a greater extent than the lower pair of arms 13 and '14. In using the garment hanger it is merely necessary to slip an extremity of the garment between the opposed pairs of arms and these arms will hold the garment in a suspended position. Where the hanger is used as a hanger for trousers, the garment may be inserted between the holder arms in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3. In this figure the trouser cuiis 18 are supported between the upper arms 15 and 16 and the lower arms 13 and 14 engage the trouser legs at the edge of the cuffs. It will be understood that each of the individual swinging garment holders may be swung about on its vertical rod support in the manner illustrated in dotted lines in Fig.

1. After several garments have been sus- 0 pended from the holders, the several holders may be folded back against the wall where they are disposed in close proximity with each other and occupy a minimum of space. The holders may be locked in this position by a locking projection or lug 19 carried by the hanger bracket or support 1 and forming an abutment engaging the edge of the outermost garment holder, as shown at 20. The loop portions of the garment holders engaging the vertical supporting rods 8 may be main tained in proper spaced relation to each other by means of spacer sleeves 21. A spring 22 may enga e the loop 10 of the outermost garment holder to holdthis garment-holder in engagement withthe locking projection 19 and it will be understood that when it is desired to remove a garment from the hanger the outermost garment holder may be'lifted against the force of the spring 22 until this garment holder disengages the'locking projection 19, whereupon the garment holder may be swung back, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This releases all the other garment holders and they may be swun 130M115 any convenient position to facilitate the removal of a garment from any one of the holders.

If desired, the portions of the arms 181 23 and 24 in Figs. 4 and 5. By fastening the arms together at this point the arms are always maintained in proper relation to each other and the loop portions '10 and 12 are In the preferred embodiment of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, each individual garment holder .consists of a single piece of heavy wireor the like having its ends welded or otherwise secured together. It is convenient to have this joint disposed in the position illustrated in Fig. 5, for there is no strain on the holder at this point. lhe corresponding portion of the upper loop 10 of each garment holder is under tension due to the weight of the garment carried by the holder, but the configuration of the holder is such that the lower loop 12 is not under tension.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the particular embodiments thereof illustrated and described but includes such modifications thereof as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims. It is also to be understood that my invention is useful with garments or wearing apparel in general, for example, the hanger may be used as a necktie holder, in which event several ties may be suspended from each of the swinging arms.

I claiin:

1. A garment hanger comprising a support, a plurality of garment holders mounted on said support to swing in a common plane, means associated with one of said holders and with said support for locking all of said holders against swinging in said common plane and in at least partial contact with each other, said locking means comprising a proj ecti on carried by said support for engaging one of said holders, and resilient means for engaging the last mentioned holder and main taining it in engagement with said projection.

2. A garment hanger comprising a support, a rod carried by said support, and a gar ment holder loosely mounted on said rod and consisting ofa single continuous elongated piece of material having a loop portion intermediate its ends encircling one end of said rod and having its ends secured together to form a loop encircling the other end of said rod, the remaining portions of the holder forming a pair of arms for engaging a garment.

3. A garment hanger comprising a support, a vertical rod carried by said support, and a garment holder loosely mounted on said rod and consisting of a single piece of wire bent to form a pair of loops for engaging the upper and lower ends of the said rod, the portions of the wire between the said loops being disposed in such a manner that the wire extends outwardly away from the upper end of the said rod then upwardly and rearwardly in a direction towards the said rod and then downward toward the lower, end of said rod whereby a pair of arms are formed for engaging a garment.

4:. A garment hanger comprising a support, a vertical rod carried by said support and a garment holder comprising a piece of wire, means for pivotally attaching the wire to the upper and lower ends of the rod, the

portions of the'wire between said attaching means being disposed in such a manner that T In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM B. OLAFLIN, JR. 

